Sortiva Waste Dump

In July of 2014 Skeye carried out an aerial survey of a waste depot using a drone for the Dutch engineering firm HB Adviesbureau. The aim of the aerial survey was to create an accurate digital terrain model and aerial photograph to be able to establish the volumes of the different stock piles on the terrain. The project was flown using the Microdrone MD4-1000 drone of Skeye.

These waste depots are periodically being measured, till recently this was done using traditional land survey techniques. These depots are however very unstable, jagged and irregular. This makes them time consuming, very costly and unsafe to ascend with land survey equipment.

“After recent investments and developments using 3D data within BH Adviesbureau, we came up with the idea of using a drone equipped with a camera to carry out an aerial survey, says Niels Westhof from HB Adviesbureau. The drone flies preprogrammed lines over the project area and makes images using a geometrically calibrated camera. With the use of image recognition software a Digital 3D Terrain Model (DTM) can be created. The high density of measured heights results in a reliable model of which the accuracy is many times better than when measured in a traditional way. The measured heights in the form of a point cloud is imported in AutoCAD Civil3D where the volumes of each stock pile can be calculated.”

“The end result is a very accurate volume computation at significantly lower costs. In addition this method yields a clear and actual aerial photograph of the entire project area. This image can be used for cartographic, management and presentation purposes, decides Niels.”